Sousa tribute goes beyond 'Stars and Stripes'

Monday

Feb 23, 2009 at 12:01 AMFeb 23, 2009 at 11:18 PM

It was part concert, part historical re-enactment. The John Phillips Sousa traveling concert band was brought to life Sunday at the Dingeldine Music Center, as the Bradley University Symphonic Winds played a tribute concert to the legendary bandleader and composer.

Tim Sampson

It was part concert, part historical re-enactment.

The John Phillips Sousa traveling concert band was brought to life Sunday at the Dingeldine Music Center, as the Bradley University Symphonic Winds played a tribute concert to the legendary bandleader and composer.

Performed every two years, the Sousa tribute concert is the brainchild of David Vroman, director of bands and chairman of Bradley's music department.

The student musicians appeared in costume, wearing navy sport coats pinned up to look like military uniforms. The stage was decked out in red, white and blue. And Vroman himself donned a bushy white beard and white navy uniform to act out the part of Sousa.

"This is basically a replication of one of his performances," he said.

Although Sousa was most famous for marches like "Stars and Stripes Forever," his performances usually combined a mix of his own work, which varied from marches to operettas, with popular classical works from other composers of his era.

"He wanted to entertain people, first and foremost," Vroman said, in describing the way Sousa would pick songs for his concerts.

Vroman has spent years researching Sousa and his impact on the history of American music.

Sousa became famous at the turn of the 20th century by traveling the world with his concert band. He performed thousands of shows, including 17 in Peoria over the course of his career.

In an age before radio, his traveling band helped bring classical music to parts of the country that had never heard it, said Bradley President Joanne Glasser, who provided historical narration in between musical numbers at Sunday's concert. Glasser recounted that the concerts always turned out huge crowds wherever they preformed.

Although many of the student musicians who performed in Sunday's concert had played Sousa pieces in school bands through out their life, they said this concert went beyond just "Stars and Stripes."

"This is as close as you're going to get to actually seeing the Sousa band," said freshman percussionist Sarah Lock. "He was a lot more than just marches. He left a huge legacy in American music."